Audiobooks Book Shophttps://audiobooksbookshop.com
Get audiobooks, ebooks, etextbooks, videos, themes, audios and much more at a huge bargainMon, 10 Dec 2018 04:39:23 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9https://audiobooksbookshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/cropped-Audiobooks-logo-only-headphone-n-book-32x32.pngAudiobooks Book Shophttps://audiobooksbookshop.com
3232Best Software For Writershttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/best-software-writers/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/best-software-writers/#respondTue, 05 Jun 2018 16:32:29 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=5854Best software for writers is important for all texts since it can give users real benefits compared to the default programs. Experts from Tricension – software company from Kansas City, Missouri notice many benefits of using software for writers, which include: Devoid of disruptions – free apps offer writers disruption free modes that help users to focus solely on the text. Different types of content – as an academic writer you should format and arrange…

Devoid of disruptions – free apps offer writers disruption free modes that help users to focus solely on the text.

Different types of content – as an academic writer you should format and arrange the text. Specialized programs can help you with that.

Better productivity – apps provide autosave, word count and so on.

Easy integration– almost all software for writers offer cloud backup.

Best software for writers include:

1. SmartEdit

It is the best free software for writers who are afraid of big changes. It only adds some essential benefits, which fail within the originally integrated editing software. For instance, it draws the attention of writers to repeated words, especially adverbs, and helps to improve standard features for error-checking to include not only spelling and grammar, but also conflicting word usage. This app will also notice foreign terms, clichés and (when needed) foul language, offering users the idea of the paper in general.

2. FocusWriter

It was created to get rid of all possible disruptions, so you might focus on writing. This writing app customizes the way text appears on the screen, hides other programs, monitors the progress and sets alarms and timers. It is a very helpful app that saves writers from procrastination.

3. Scrivener

This is one of the most favored writing programs for PC. It offers users with enhanced editing and fascinating additional features, but its main benefit is the ability to gather all the important files in one location. Internet pages, charts, images, references and diagrams might be compiled together since Scrivener identifies that they are parts of one writing project. For academic writers who open about three programs to view relevant information (while focusing on a research paper, for example) this is a wonderful feature. That is the advantage of this program as it lets writers to organize the digital workspace. It’s offers a free trial that will make you decide whether you like the program.

4. WriteMonkey

This is another free disruption program with lots of beneficial features, such as auto-save, easy formatting and word count. The app lets writers add footnotes, classify and link, while nothing disrupts them from work. This free writing software for Windows offers an amazingly bare user interface, which is a lot more powerful than it appears.

5. WriteItNow

Source: WriteItNow

WriteItNow combines the organizational abilities and user-friendliness of Scrivener with numerous compelling additional features. Their character tab is the most interesting, which lets amazingly detailed character building. It includes helping writers develop compelling character arcs, the ability to give behaviors numerical values and character traits, and encourages consistency. It also lets you download name sets based on time periods and locations, and will select the right character name depending on the writer’s parameters. The same functions can be found for tracking timelines and adding notes; the ‘events graph’ feature even lets you look at different strands of the plot as they are experienced by different characters.

WriteItNow has an extensive thesaurus function and consists of relevant Encyclopedia articles, rhymes, and quotes to provide you with options as you write. An important feature is that it can export files in EPUB, PDF, RTF, and HTML, and also to Microsoft Word. This makes repurposing your work easy, with just a couple of steps between a document, you can view one on an eReader, and your friends can print out another.

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/best-software-writers/feed/0Indian banks can do more to make open banking obvious path to prosperity, says GlobalDatahttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/indian-banks-can-make-open-banking-obvious-path-prosperity-says-globaldata/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/indian-banks-can-make-open-banking-obvious-path-prosperity-says-globaldata/#respondWed, 14 Feb 2018 15:06:57 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=3875Indian banking system is among the most convenient and trusted in the world, but Indian banks can do more to put consumer centricity to the core of their strategy and make open banking the apparent path to prosperity, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData. According to GlobalData’s Retail Banking, Customer Insight Survey, 2017, India has taken several measures including granting new banking licenses to stir up competition, introducing the unified payment interface (UPI) to…

]]>Indian banking system is among the most convenient and trusted in the world, but Indian banks can do more to put consumer centricity to the core of their strategy and make open banking the apparent path to prosperity, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData.

According to GlobalData’s Retail Banking, Customer Insight Survey, 2017, India has taken several measures including granting new banking licenses to stir up competition, introducing the unified payment interface (UPI) to ensure interoperability across the new eco-system, and demonetization to increase digital payment volumes and set up a supporting infrastructure for open banking.

To accommodate that increase, the government implemented a standard set of APIs (Aadhaar, eKYC and DigitalLocker, etc.) and even rolled out its own payment app–Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)– in late 2016, to enable payments from any bank 24/7 in real-time and expedite the move towards a ‘presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery’ system.

These initiatives have resulted in dramatic improvements across critical indicators. As an accurate measure of openness, around 270 million Aadhaar-driven bank accounts were opened, and digital payment volumes soared to all-time highs. However, with such rapid digitization inevitably come growing pains.

There are data management challenges too to contend with. Mining data from traditional sources as well as from e-commerce purchases, utility payments, social media and electronic payments will have particular applications for India’s SME sector, most of whom presently obtain financing from the informal sector.

Walker continues: “The APIs available through India Stack are at various stages of maturity, some are still being refined, and not all have been subject to nation-wide education and awareness campaigns. The authorities should consider the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) -type approach as in the UK to strengthen open banking led by the top eight banks and FinTech firms by market share.

“To stay ahead in the game, banks should put consumer centricity to the core of their strategy, build close relationships with partners (vendors and FinTech) and create integrated digital infrastructures. They will have to tap into the available consumer data to plan new products, services, and business models. After all, innovative and infrastructure-lite business models are now more possible in India than anywhere else in the world.”

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/indian-banks-can-make-open-banking-obvious-path-prosperity-says-globaldata/feed/0What is a Bitcoin & How do Cryptocurrencies Workhttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/what-is-a-bitcoin/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/what-is-a-bitcoin/#respondSun, 11 Feb 2018 02:39:36 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=3843Say there’s a coin that’s currently worth numerous U.S. dollars, but it’s not made of gold, or platinum, or any rare-earth element. In reality, it’s not the sort of coin you can hold in your hand or stick in a piggy bank. It’s a digital currency, which suggests it just exists electronically. I’m discussing bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn’t work like most cash. It isn’t connected to a state or government, so it does not have a…

]]>Say there’s a coin that’s currently worth numerous U.S. dollars, but it’s not made of gold, or platinum, or any rare-earth element. In reality, it’s not the sort of coin you can hold in your hand or stick in a piggy bank. It’s a digital currency, which suggests it just exists electronically. I’m discussing bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn’t work like most cash. It isn’t connected to a state or government, so it does not have a central providing authority or regulatory body. Basically, that suggests there’s no company deciding when to make more bitcoins, figuring out how many to produce, keeping an eye on where they are, or investigating fraud. So how does bitcoin work as a currency, or have any value at all? Well, bitcoin wouldn’t exist without an entire network of people, and a little thing called cryptography. In reality, it’s often described as the world’s very first cryptocurrency. And here’s how it works:

Bitcoin is a completely digital currency, and you can exchange bitcoins in between computers in a worldwide peer-to-peer network. The entire point of many peer-to-peer networks is sharing things, like letting individuals make copies of very legal music or motion pictures to download.

If bitcoin is a digital currency, what’s stopping you from making a lot of counterfeit copies and becoming wonderfully rich?

Well, unlike an mp3 or a video file, a bitcoin isn’t a string of data that can be duplicated. A bitcoin is actually an entry on a huge, worldwide journal called the blockchain, for factors we’ll get to in a minute. The blockchain records every bitcoin transaction that has actually ever taken place. And, since late 2016, the complete journal has to do with 107 gigabytes of data. So when you send out someone bitcoins, it’s not like you’re sending them a lot of files. Instead, you’re basically composing the exchange down on that big journal — something like, “Michael sends Hank 5 bitcoins.” Now, possibly you’re believing, “But, wait. You stated bitcoin doesn’t have a central authority to monitor everything!” Even though the blockchain is the main record, there’s no official group of people who update the journal and keep track of everybody’s loan like a bank does — it’s decentralized. In reality, anyone can volunteer to keep the blockchain approximately date with all the brand-new transactions. And a lot of people do. All of it works since there are lots of individuals tracking the same thing, to make sure all transactions are precise.

Like, envision you’re playing a video game of poker with some friends. However none of you have poker chips, and you left your cash at home. There’s no loan on the table, so a few of you get out some notebooks, and start making a note of who bets how much, who wins, and who loses. You don’t completely trust anyone else, so everyone keeps their ledgers separately. And at the end of every hand, you all compare what you’ve jotted down. That way, if somebody makes a mistake, or tries to cheat and snag some extra money on their own, that inconsistency is caught. After a couple of hands, you may fill a page of your notepad with notes about the cash motion. You can consider each page as a “block of deals.” Ultimately, your notepad will have pages and pages of details — a chain of those blocks. Hence: blockchain.

How are all journals kept in sync?

Now, if thousands of people are individually maintaining the bitcoin blockchain, how are all the journals kept in sync? To stick to our poker analogy: consider the entire bitcoin peer-to-peer network as a really huge poker table with millions of people. Some are simply exchanging loan, however, great deals of volunteers are keeping ledgers. So when you want to send or receive a loan, you have to announce it to everyone at the table, so individuals keeping track can upgrade their ledgers. So for every single deal, you’re announcing many things to the bitcoin network: your account number, the account variety of the person you’re sending bitcoins to, and how many bitcoins you wish to send. And all of the users who are keeping copies of the blockchain will add your deal to the present block. Having a bunch of people keep track of deals seems like a respectable security procedure. However, if all it requires to send out bitcoins are a number of account numbers, that appears like it might be a security problem. It’s a huge problem with routine cash — simply consider all the methods wrongdoers try to take other individuals’ credit card info. And with bitcoin, there’s no central bank to observe anything strange going on to close down scams, like if it appeared like unexpectedly, you invested your whole life cost savings on beef jerky. So what’s stopping Hank from pretending he’s me and just sending himself all of my bitcoins? Bitcoins are kept pretty safe thanks to cryptography, which is why it’s considered a cryptocurrency.

Specifically, bitcoin remains protected because of secrets, which are basically portions of info that can be utilized to make mathematical warranties about messages, like “hello, this is really from me!” When you produce an account on the bitcoin network, which you might have heard called a “wallet,” that account is connected to two distinct keys: a personal secret, and a public secret. In this case, the private key can take some information and basically mark it, likewise known as signing it, so that other individuals can confirm those signatures later on if they desire. So let’s state I want to send a message to the network that states, “Michael sends out 3 bitcoins to Olivia.” I sign that message utilizing my personal key, which only I have access to, and nobody else can duplicate. Then, I send out that signed message out to the bitcoin network, and everybody can use my public key to make sure my signature checks out. That method, everybody monitoring all the bitcoin trading understands to add my transaction to their copy of the blockchain. To puts it simply, if the general public key works, that’s proof that the message was signed by my personal key and is something I wished to send out. Unlike a handwritten signature, or a charge card number, this evidence of identity isn’t really something that can be fabricated by a scammer. The “who” part of each transaction is undoubtedly essential, to make sure the ideal individuals are swapping bitcoins. But the “when” matters, also. If you had a thousand dollars in your checking account, for example, and tried to buy 2 things for a thousand dollars each, the bank would honor the first purchase and deny the second one. If the bank didn’t do that, you ‘d have the ability to spend the exact same cash numerous times. Which … may sound remarkable, however it’s likewise horrible. A monetary system can’t work like that, because no one would get paid. So if I only have sufficient loan to pay Olivia or Hank, however I attempt to pay them both, there’s a check developed into the bitcoin system. Both the bitcoin network and your wallet instantly inspect your previous deals to make sure you have enough bitcoins to send out in the top place.

But there’s another problem that may happen with timing: Because lots of individuals are keeping copies of the blockchain all over the world, network hold-ups suggest that you won’t constantly get the deal requests in the same order. So now you’ve got a bunch of individuals with a lot of a little various blocks to select from, however none of them are necessarily incorrect. Okay, bitcoin. How do you resolve that issue? Ends up, it’s by actually fixing problems. Mathematics problems. To add a block of deals to the chain, each person keeping a ledger has to fix an unique sort of math issue developed by a cryptographic hash function. A hash function is an algorithm that takes an input of any size, and turns it into an output with a repaired size. For example, let’s state you had this string of numbers as your input And our example hash function says to include all of the numbers together. So, in this case, the output would be 10. Exactly what makes hash functions great for cryptography is that when you’re offered an input, it’s really easy to find the output. But it’s actually difficult to take an output and find out the initial input. Even in this very basic example, there are lots of strings of numbers that add up to 10. The only way to find out that the input was ‘1-2-3-4’ is to simply guess till you get it right. Now, the hash function that bitcoin uses is called SHA256, which represents Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit. And it was originally established by the United States National Security Agency. Computer systems that were particularly created to resolve SHA256 hash issues take, typically, about ten minutes to think the solution to each one. That suggests they’re churning through billions and billions of guesses prior to they get it right. Whoever resolves the hash first gets to include the next block of transactions to the blockchain, which then produces a brand-new mathematics problem that needs to be solved. If multiple individuals make blocks at roughly the very same time, then the network selects one to keep structure upon, which becomes the longest, and the majority of relied on chain. And any deals in those alternate branches of the chain get returned into a swimming pool to be included onto later blocks. These volunteers spend thousands of dollars on special computer systems constructed to solve SHA256 problems, and run their electrical power expenses up sky high to keep those devices running.

But why? Exactly what do they leave maintaining the blockchain? Is it simply community service? Well, bitcoin really has an integrated system to reward them. Today, every time you win the race to add a block to the blockchain, 12 and a half brand-new bitcoins are created out of thin air, and awarded to your account. In reality, you might know the bitcoin ledger-keepers by another name: miners. That’s due to the fact that keeping the blockchain updated resembles swinging a proverbial pickaxe at those hash problems, intending to strike it rich. When bitcoins were very first produced in 2009, they didn’t actually have actually any viewed value. Tens of bitcoins would have been worth the like a lot of cents. Since November 10th, 2016, however, one bitcoin deserves 708 United States dollars. So 12 and a half bitcoins are worth 8,850 dollars. That’s a nice chunk of change! Every single bitcoin that exists was created to reward a bitcoin miner. Besides the huge payment when they add a brand-new block of deals, miners are also basically tipped a really small amount for each transaction they add to the journal. It’s also worth keeping in mind that every 210,000 blocks, the number of coins produced when a new block is included goes down by half. So what began as a benefit of 50 bitcoins reduced to 25, then 12 and a half. It’ll only be around 6 bitcoins in a couple more years, and keep decreasing.

Ultimately, there will be many deals in a block, that it’ll still be beneficial for miners to mostly be paid in ideas. In accordance with existing forecasts, the last bitcoin — probably around the 21 millionth coin — will be mined in the year 2140. This decreasing number of bitcoins is in fact modelled off the rate at which things like gold are removed of the earth. And the concept is that keeping the supply of bitcoins limited will raise their value in time.

So, is purchasing bitcoin a smart idea?

Bitcoin is still unpredictable, and speculative. A lot of people enjoy it, and a great deal of individuals think it’s doomed to fail. We simply think it’s an interesting concept, and it makes us question exactly what cryptography may do for us next.

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/what-is-a-bitcoin/feed/0What Does ‘Kafkaesque’ Really Mean? Like Seriously Really!https://audiobooksbookshop.com/kafkaesque-really-mean-like-seriously-really/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/kafkaesque-really-mean-like-seriously-really/#respondThu, 12 Oct 2017 03:53:16 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=3009A recent news item in New York Times quoted Caitlan Coleman, a hostage released by the Taliban in Afghanistan, who described her time with the militants as “Kafkaesque”. I was were really happy by the news of her release, but my mind wandered off somewhere else when I read “Kafkaesque“. Many may not know what it means. For those who think they know what it means, you are probably mistaken! A recent, viral TED-Ed video…

A recent news item in New York Times quotedCaitlan Coleman, a hostage released by the Taliban in Afghanistan, who described her time with the militants as “Kafkaesque”. I was were really happy by the news of her release, but my mind wandered off somewhere else when I read “Kafkaesque“.

Many may not know what it means. For those who think they know what it means, you are probably mistaken!

A recent, viral TED-Ed video made by Noah Tavlin lays all of it out, explaining how we cavalierly misuse the adjective and what it actually means. “Beyond the word’s casual use,” he asks, “what makes something Kafkaesque?” (The video is below).

Sure, you may be shouting at your phone or laptop, I know what “Kafkaesque” is. Clearly, it means reminiscent of the events and themes found within the work of Franz Kafka, the writer from Prague whose famous stories (for e.g. The Metamorphosis and The Trial) drew upon the soul-crushing bureaucratic machinery of the ageing Austro-Hungarian empire.

I’ll even get more specific, though. “Kafkaesque” describes, as Merriam-Webster would put it, “having a nightmarishly advanced, weird, or illogical high quality,” or as the Oxford Dictionaries suggests, “oppressive or nightmarish qualities.”

But here’s the thing: Any time an author’s oeuvre turns into the basis for its own descriptor (Dickensian, Proustian, Orwellian), the meaning of that adjective relies completely on the interpretations of the unique work. It doesn’t matter what the big dictionaries says about “Kafkaesque,” the true denotation has nothing to do with the dictionary entries and every thing to do with what literary critics have to say about Kafka himself.

Tavlin’s own definition of “Kafkaesque” derives from studying A Hunger Artist, The Trial, The Metamorphosis and different Kafka works more closely, and he draws out a number of trademarks of his fiction beyond the concept of a baffling, illogical bureaucracy.

“It’s not the absurdity of bureaucracy alone, but the irony of the characters’ circular reasoning in reaction to it, that’s emblematic of Kafka’s writing,” he argues in the video.

This TED-Ed video is one of the more recent entrant in a long-running battle to define “Kafkaesque,” and, in a roundabout approach, outline Kafka’s artistic legacy. In 1991, Kafka biographer Frederick Karl offered a more limited but fairly straightforward definition to The New York Times:

“What I’m against is someone going to catch a bus and finding that all the buses have stopped running and saying that’s Kafkaesque,” he stated. “What’s Kafkaesque […] is when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behavior, begins to fall to pieces […] What you do is struggle against this with all of your tools, with whatever you have. But of course you do not stand a chance. That is Kafkaesque.”

In a 2014 column in the Atlantic, “By Heart” author Ben Marcus, about Kafka’s “A Message From the Emperor,” claims that Marcus’s “discussion of the piece ultimately included a concise and brilliant argument for what constitutes the Kafkaesque, though he never used that word.” Instead, Marcus made arguments about what Kafka’s “quintessential qualities” were, including “affecting use of language, a setting that straddles fantasy and reality, and a sense of striving even in the face of bleakness — hopelessly and full of hope.” (If “affecting use of language” turns into one of the qualifiers for appropriately deploying “Kafkaesque,” the term will be almost impractically circumscribed.)

As Tavlin argues, “Kafkaesque has entered the vernacular to explain unnecessarily difficult and irritating experiences, particularly with forms. However does standing in an extended line to fill out complicated paperwork actually capture the richness of Kafka’s imaginative and prescient?”

Most likely not. What does, other than Kafka’s personal good and rightfully well studied fiction? By this customary, maybe we should solely call Kafka himself Kafkaesque.

Prescriptivists who wish to restrict how we use phrases like “Kafkaesque” are virtually definitely combating a losing battle, however there are some aspect advantages. For instance, an unusual, deep video exploring the themes of Kafka’s fiction — that’s a worthy end in itself.

[Title image credit: TED-Ed / Youtube. This article has been submitted by James Archie, a guest writer. If you want your writings to appear on our website, you can send in your work at our email address, with the title ‘Guest Post’. If it’s related to books/literature, we’ll definitely consider it]

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/kafkaesque-really-mean-like-seriously-really/feed/0Creating Time With Downloadable Audio Bookshttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/creating-time-with-downloadable-audio-books/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/creating-time-with-downloadable-audio-books/#commentsFri, 21 Jul 2017 19:24:27 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=2480Are you wasting time commuting to and from work? Listening to music can be an escape but nowadays time is at a premium, so many people are choosing to use that valuable time for listening to audio books. Long commutes are an ideal time to listen to downloadable audio books particularly for busy people that don’t have the time to read books. Here is a list of some great opportunities to hear audio books: Commuting…

]]>Are you wasting time commuting to and from work? Listening to music can be an escape but nowadays time is at a premium, so many people are choosing to use that valuable time for listening to audio books. Long commutes are an ideal time to listen to downloadable audio books particularly for busy people that don’t have the time to read books. Here is a list of some great opportunities to hear audio books:

Commuting

Biking

Jogging

Working Out at the Gym

Traveling for Business or Pleasure

Gardening

Knitting

Cooking

Doing Housework

You can easily add to this list.

Why Listen to an Audio Book versus music?

Audio books and books, in general, expand your universe. Many times we don’t have the luxury to get additional training at work or find the latest and greatest advice and tips on aging or parenting, but you generally can get the time to listen. By listening you can learn, grow, and discover passions that you never even dreamed of. With downloadable audio books, you can learn a language, hear some of the latest biographies or the best selling thrillers. As a music lover I can tell you that there is room for both but learning to me has always been more important since I know we are in an increasingly competitive world where knowledge is not a luxury but a must.

Aren’t Audio Books Expensive?

If you have not been exposed to audio books, you may think that audio books are expensive. In some cases that may be true but they are available in a variety of different ways. Believe it or not, some still come on cassette tape. Typically the ones you see sold in the stores are on CD. But the new trend is toward MP3 audio books. These are downloadable from the internet. Our audio book store specializes in downloadable audio books. Downloadable audio books tend to be less expensive than CDs since you decide whether you want to burn it on CD or whether you want to transfer it from your computer to your portable media player. Downloadable audio books are usually available in MP3 or WMA formats (All our audiobooks are in mp3 format). Searching audio books online can be confusing at first but once you find the store you like and are comfortable with the formats they offer you just then need to make sure they have the titles you want. Many sites have users sign up for a monthly fee similar to Netflix where they rent audio books. This works for some people if they are renting enough titles to make it worth the fees. Some stores like ours offer great deals and a wide selection without the commitment of paying a monthly fee. Audio books are available in all genres. They are just not business or training types of books. Fiction typically is the most popular with the like of J. K. Rowling and Andy Weir. Many women like to listen to romances as they do their house work. A luxury that they can feel less guilty about since an audio book allows you to multitask.

In conclusion, the convenience of listening to an audio book can’t be beaten. Whether you prefer to have your audio books on a compact disc, on your computer, your smart phone or other portable media player, you are sure to find something to suit your needs online. You no longer need to walk down to your local library or bookstore you can buy an audio book and download it right on your smartphone or computer. The internet has truly transformed our lives. By allowing us to download audiobooks that we can listen to instantly opens the floodgates to a new path of multitasking and productivity.

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/creating-time-with-downloadable-audio-books/feed/1The Science Fiction of Comic Bookshttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/science-fiction-comic-books/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/science-fiction-comic-books/#commentsWed, 19 Jul 2017 19:05:58 +0000https://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=2471The science fiction of comic books always fascinated the public. Where else could you read a 48-page comic book and find alternate universes or parallel universes? One could read a science fiction short story or a novel, but to see a visual representation of what the writer and artist rendition of alien life is truly a unique experience. The connection between you and the comic books version of alien life forms or parallel universes can…

]]>The science fiction of comic books always fascinated the public. Where else could you read a 48-page comic book and find alternate universes or parallel universes? One could read a science fiction short story or a novel, but to see a visual representation of what the writer and artist rendition of alien life is truly a unique experience. The connection between you and the comic books version of alien life forms or parallel universes can be similar or way off base. That is the beauty of the science fiction of comic books. You never know if the comic books interpretation of alien life and alien technology were meant to persuade you to their way of conceptualizing the unfathomable, or not.

Perhaps it is their version from when they read comic books when they were young. Comic books have a plethora of instances where alien life forms want to destroy the earth. The strange beings seem only to want to destroy and conquer. When a comic book portrays a benevolent species that traveled millennia to reach earth, we are immediately suspicious and resort to violence. In comic books where there are alternate timelines, havoc ensues, and the hero or heroes must return to the correct timeline. They were sent there on accident from a science experiment or some other apparently plausible explanation.

The science fiction of comic books tends to bend the current law of physics and stretch some truths to fit neatly into a good explanation. After the ramifications from the story are thoroughly examined, it becomes necessary to find new ways in which to use them in future narratives. Thus, one storyline has many possible outcomes for future comic books.

If a superhero destroys an alien bent on destroying the earth and his body dissipates, then you would think the alien is gone. However, matter cannot disappear. So where is the creature? It seems likely it will be back in the future to reek more wide spread destruction on the unsuspecting populace. On the other hand, it could be a robot that infiltrates machines and has wrested control from us. Alternatively, it could be ourselves from the distant future that depleted their natural resources, so they come back to steal ours. Whatever the reason the strange beings wage warfare with us, or we are beamed to a different reality, the imagination is the clear winner.

Almost every kid sometime or another wanted to take a story they read from a comic book and try some experiment. Those kids are the future scientists and perhaps in the meantime, our comic book creators. The science fiction of yesterday becomes the science of tomorrow.

The science may be dubious in comic books, but the thrill of pretending you are in the shoes of someone else always held me captive. The comic books will always be filled with science fiction themes and plots based on real science and pseudo science. However, the real magic is that they can implement the two into a comic book, and turn a make believe story into a great work of art that will be remembered for a very long time.

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/science-fiction-comic-books/feed/18 Things We Learned From The New Harry Potter eBookshttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/eight-things-learned-pottermore-presents-new-harry-potter-ebooks/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/eight-things-learned-pottermore-presents-new-harry-potter-ebooks/#respondWed, 07 Sep 2016 08:06:54 +0000http://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=1780Here are eight of the biggest revelations from the new eBooks by Pottermore Those who thought that the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 2007 marked the end of the franchise could not have been more wrong. As well as the succeeding films, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them due for release this November and the highly-acclaimed Cursed Child play delighting audiences in London, J.K. Rowling has kept die-hard Potter fans…

Here are eight of the biggest revelations from the new eBooks by Pottermore

Those who thought that the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 2007 marked the end of the franchise could not have been more wrong.

As well as the succeeding films, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them due for release this November and the highly-acclaimed Cursed Child play delighting audiences in London, J.K. Rowling has kept die-hard Potter fans satisfied with regular writing and explanations from the wizarding world on the interactive fan website, Pottermore.

Now her enlightening updates and personal reflections have been knitted into three short story collections, launched as £1.99 each ($2.70) eBooks on 6th September. “Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeist”, “Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies” and “Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide” are packed with surprises and intricate details about much-beloved characters, insight into magical history and revelations of Rowling’s writing regrets. Here are the eight things we thought are the most interesting:

1. Which of J.K. Rowling’s creations made life the most complicated

The Marauder’s Map—a magical document that allowed Harry to see all of the goings on at Hogwarts—became “something of a bane to its true originator (me) because it allowed Harry a little too much freedom of information,” Rowling writes. However, regardless of the complication of the plot device, Rowling “on balance” is glad she didn’t let Harry leave the map in Mad-Eye Moody’s office as she “like[s] the moment when Harry watches Ginny’s dot moving around the school in Deathly Hallows“.

Like the Marauder’s Map, Hermione’s Time-Turner, which enabled her to time travel, opened up “an unlimited number of problems” for Rowling. To solve it, she emphasized, by means of Dumbledore and Hermione, how dangerous it would be to be seen in the past.

She also had Hermione give the Time-Turner back when she was done utilizing it and smashed all the remaining devices in during the Department of Mysteries battle. “This is just one example of the methods by which, when writing fantasy novels, one must be cautious what one invents,” Rowling writes. However the Time-Turner makes a comeback as the central plot device in the Cursed Child play.

2. What happens to Professor Quirrell in Sorcerer’s Stone

Professor Quirrell is “turned into a temporary Horcrux by Voldermort” in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Rowling writes in Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists. This explains his weakened state; “he’s tremendously depleted by the physical pressure of fighting the far stronger, evil soul inside him”.

3. What came before the Sorting Hat

Before Rowling decided on a Sorting Hat as the way of dividing the students into the 4 houses, she dabbled with the thought of 4 statues taking charge. Writing in Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Rowling explains that after deciding against a “Heath Robinson-ish machine that did all kinds of magical things before reaching a decision,” she “positioned 4 statues of the 4 founders in the Entrance Hall, which came alive and chose students from the throng in front of them while the school watched”.

This didn’t really feel proper though, and she ultimately settled on the Sorting Hat – inspired by the traditional notion of pulling names out of a hat to choose somebody for a game.

4. Why was the Hogwarts Express so controversial to start with

The Hogwarts Express is an integral part of Harry Potter. It’s on the magic train that Harry, Hermione and Ron first meet, where Harry first comes across a Dementor (which causes him to pass out) and the last, moving scene in the final book revolves around the Platform 9¾ drop off.

But getting the Hogwarts Express ready to transport witches and wizards to school was no simple feat – secret records at the Ministry of Magic detail a “mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the biggest ever mass Concealment Charm carried out in Britain”. The next morning, Muggle railway staff in Crewe woke with the uncomfortable notion that they had mislaid something essential – whereas villagers in Hogsmeade had been amazed to see a “gleaming scarlet steam engine” waiting in a station they didn’t know existed.

Even though the mass operation went to plan, many pure-blood families were outraged by the concept of their kids utilizing “unsafe, insanitary and demeaning” Muggle transport. However, their objections had been overruled by the Ministry which stated that if their youngsters wished to go to Hogwarts, they had to get on board.

5. Who were the parents of Professor Minerva McGonagall

Undoubtedly a favorite of the Hogwarts lecturers, Transfiguration professor and later headmistress Minerva McGonagall is the first child of a Scottish Presbyterian minister named Reverend Robert McGonagall and a Hogwarts-educated witch named Isobel Ross.

Reverend Robert, a Muggle, believed that Isobel attended a selective girls’ boarding school in England and even after their baby was born, Isobel didn’t reveal her true id. Writing in Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, Rowling explains that ultimately Isobel confessed the reality to Robert, who was “profoundly shocked by her revelation, and by the fact that she had kept such a secret from him for so long”.

6. What Remus Lupin’s werewolf condition actually meant

One of the most fascinating revelations Rowling has made about the books since the series ended was the fact that Remus Lupin – one of her “favorite characters” – and his condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a “metaphor for those diseases that carry a stigma like HIV and AIDS”.

“The wizarding community is as vulnerable to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me an opportunity to look at these attitudes,” she writes.

7. What does the name ‘Azkaban’ means

In Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists, Rowling writes that the name of the wizard’s jail, Azkaban, derives from Alcatraz – the high-security jail located in the San Francisco Bay, which Rowling describes as Azkaban’s “closest Muggle equivalent, being set on an island”.

The rest of the word is inspired by the Hebrew term “Abaddon,” which means “‘place of destruction’ or ‘depths of hell’”.

8. Sirius Black is NOT gay!

Ok, we didn’t learn this from the eBooks but actually some people inferred it from J.K Rowlings twitter feed. Some in the LGBT weren’t impressed (meaning they were really pissed) by this, but hey, finally this has been settled, right? Wrong! She clarified that the tweet which made people think she was talking about Black wasn’t, in fact about Black. So… we are still unsure of this one!

[We at the Audiobooks Book Shop are trying to get the rights for the three new eBooks and hope to sell them at a good discount, even though they are originally only £1.99 each]

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/eight-things-learned-pottermore-presents-new-harry-potter-ebooks/feed/03 more Harry Potter eBooks coming out in Septemberhttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/three-harry-potter-ebooks-coming-out-pottermore/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/three-harry-potter-ebooks-coming-out-pottermore/#respondFri, 19 Aug 2016 07:52:12 +0000http://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=1773Some more good news coming in for fans and followers of the Harry Potter series. Just as we caught up with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the so-called 8th installment in the Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling has gone and announced that there’s more from where that came from. Rowling has stated that three more Harry Potter ebooks for the franchise will be releasing next month on Pottermore. The collection will be titled Pottermore…

Some more good news coming in for fans and followers of the Harry Potter series. Just as we caught up with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the so-called 8th installment in the Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling has gone and announced that there’s more from where that came from. Rowling has stated that three more Harry Potter ebooks for the franchise will be releasing next month on Pottermore. The collection will be titled Pottermore Presents and will feature tidbits from the Pottermore archives and will feature original writing from J.K Rowling.

According to Pottermore’s: “Pottermore Presents is a series of bite-sized eBooks that dig deep into the Harry Potter stories, with titbits taken from Pottermore’s archives and original writing from J.K. Rowling. The series offers Harry Potter fans added insights into the stories, settings and characters and were all lovingly curated by Pottermore. “

The new trio is titled Pottermore Presents

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide dives into the details of the wizarding school, revealing every little thing from Hogwarts ghosts to secrets behind the walls.

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Political and Pesky Poltergeists explores the darker roots of the wizarding world from the troubles faced by the Ministry of Magic to the horrors of Azkaban jail. J.K. Rowling has additionally written an original piece on Horace Slughorn.

And in Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, Pottermore focuses on the employees of Hogwarts. Rowling focuses on Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin and we learn there’s more to learn about teachers like Care of Magical Creatures teacher Silvanas Kettelburn.

The three eBook are set to release on the 6th of September 2016. We at Audiobooks Book Shop will try our best to bring them at affordable prices for the eastern markets.

Update: Potter is eager to tell fans on twitter that these eBooks feature writing “from our Pottermore vaults and are not new Harry Potter books.”

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/three-harry-potter-ebooks-coming-out-pottermore/feed/0Aziz Ansari, the 1st South Asian to get an Emmy Nomination for a lead rolehttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/aziz-ansari-becomes-first-south-asian-get-emmy-nomination-lead-role/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/aziz-ansari-becomes-first-south-asian-get-emmy-nomination-lead-role/#respondSat, 16 Jul 2016 15:47:33 +0000http://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=1681Actor and Comedian Aziz Ansari (and author of Modern Romance) has been getting a lot of attention for his work in the Netflix series Master of None but this is the best thing to happen so far. Ansari has received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series — and he’s the first South Asian actor to do so! While there have been a few actors of South Asian descent to be…

Actor and Comedian Aziz Ansari (and author of Modern Romance) has been getting a lot of attention for his work in the Netflix series Master of None but this is the best thing to happen so far.

Ansari has received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series — and he’s the first South Asian actor to do so!

While there have been a few actors of South Asian descent to be nominated for Emmys (Naveen Andrews for Lost and Ben Kingsly for a number of miniseries like Mrs Harris and Joseph), Ansari is the first to be nominated for a lead role.

Prior to this Emmy nomination, Ansari earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, also for his part on Master of None.

Ansari plays the role of Dev Shah, an actor trying to make his way around New York. The show has been appreciated for breaking down stereotypes surrounding Asian men and also for the diversity present in the series, which has earned it the right to be called progressive compared to many other shows.

]]>https://audiobooksbookshop.com/aziz-ansari-becomes-first-south-asian-get-emmy-nomination-lead-role/feed/0Piles of fun – the person piling books throughout NYChttps://audiobooksbookshop.com/piles-fun-randomly-different-books-nyc/
https://audiobooksbookshop.com/piles-fun-randomly-different-books-nyc/#commentsTue, 05 Apr 2016 02:22:16 +0000http://audiobooksbookshop.com/?p=1632Shaheryar Malik emptied his residence of books by placing them in large heaps in public areas throughout Manhattan. Why did he do it – and what happened next? Think about getting rid of your whole library and beginning afresh. That is precisely what Mr. Malik has achieved, in as dramatic a fashion as possible. About an year ago, he determined he would leave stacks of about forty of his books in a number of public areas…

]]>Shaheryar Malik emptied his residence of books by placing them in large heaps in public areas throughout Manhattan. Why did he do it – and what happened next?

A stack on the elevator of an Upper West Side business tower. Picture: Dani Yim

Think about getting rid of your whole library and beginning afresh. That is precisely what Mr. Malik has achieved, in as dramatic a fashion as possible.

About an year ago, he determined he would leave stacks of about forty of his books in a number of public areas in New York until he was left with none. Eight times over, he piled them up in locations such as the the High Line, the Brooklyn Bridge, or a subway platform, and simply walked away.

He has no idea what occurred next, nor does he wish to, as the entire point of this experiment was to avoid a digital trace (beyond one photograph for each stack).

Harlem playground – Books on a swing. Picture: Dani Yim

He needed the experience to be reserved for those who had been there at that very second, he explained. The books ranged from gardening guides to novels to photography and the fall of the Third Reich to fiction. He would put the tomes with the most unusual titles on top, such as The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking, or Physics for You, which has “such a lovely illustration on the cover”, he says.

This began a year in the past, when Malik, an art director originally from London, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and got the urge to take a selfie. “Then I stopped and thought: ‘Instead of taking the image that has been taken hundreds of thousands of times, I’m going to share something completely different with the world.’

“A book moves you, annoys you, touches you, annoys you. You’re on the Brooklyn Bridge, how about you transform your self by travelling to this other world?”

Books in the middle of Brooklyn Bridge. Picture: Dani Yim

Would people bump into the stacks, ignore the stacks, see them as pile of garbage? He has no idea what the immediate reactions have been, because he does not stick around. “I would be really anxious if I did.” Nevertheless, he did leave bookmarks along with his e-mail address inside the books, and he has received more than 60 emails from individuals in thirty countries to date.

A footbridge above a highway close to the Washington Bridge, near Manhattan’s upper edge. Picture Dani Yim

Now with empty shelves, he feels “lifted”. “I’ve given away something, however I’ve never really left them. What you have read becomes you and stays in you, and now they carry on and get extra lives. A lady in Holland said she’d left it on a train there for another person to pick it up.”